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CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Myths

There are a number of commonly held myths that hinder society's ability to prevent and identify abuse in children and adolescents with disabilities. Two of these are:

Nobody would abuse children or adolescents with disabilities because everyone feels sorry for them. Multiple studies have demonstrated the increased prevalence of maltreatment among children and adolescents with disabilities. As with non-disabled children, most abuse happens at the hands of a person well known to them. In addition to abuse by family members or other caretakers in their homes, children and adolescents who live in residential facilities may be abused by employees of those facilities.

If children and adolescents do not know that they are being abused, they won't suffer any consequences. There is no empirical support for the concept that children and adolescents with disabilities are any less vulnerable to the devastating mental health consequences of abuse than their non-disabled peers.